The Limits of Equality: A People's History of Affirmative Action
![handle is hein.journals/harlpolrv17 and id is 51 raw text is: The Limits of Equality: A People's History of
Affirmative Action
Elijah McDonnaugh*
'A racist is one who despises someone because of his color, and
an Alabama segregationist is one who conscientiously believes that it
is in the best interest of Negro and white to have a separate educa-
tion and social order. Governor of Alabama, George Wallace, 1964
[It does not benefit African-Americans to get them into the Uni-
versity of Texas where they do not do well, as opposed to having them
go to a less-advanced school ... a slower-track school where they do
well ... Maybe [the University of Texas] ought to have fewer [Black
students] ... I don't think it stands to reason that it's a good thing for
the University of Texas to admit as many blacks as possible.2
Justice of the Supreme Court, Antonin Scalia, 2015
INTRODUCTION ................................................. 44
I. EQUALITY AND FREEDOM UNDER RECONSTRUCTION AND
REDEM PTION ............................................. ... 48
A. 'Freedom, Equality, and the Fourteenth Amendment ...... 48
B. Building Jim Crow: Government Intervention during
Reconstruction and Redemption ........................... 50
II. A HISTORY OF TWO MOVEMENTS ......................... 53
A. Substantive Colorblindness and the Return of Reconstruction . 55
B. Reactionary Colorblindness and the New Right............ 58
C. Biology, Ethnicity, and the New Jim Crow ................ 61
III. THE EVOLUTION OF IDEOLOGY ............................ 66
A. Structural Inequality, Immigration Law, and the Coleman
R ep ort................................................. 67
B. Understanding the 'Asian Penalty ........................ 69
C. Affirmative Action for the Rich ........................... 70
D. The Model-Minority Myth and the New Cold War......... 72
C ONCLUSION ................................................... ... 73
* New York City-based attorney. I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to Grace
Hauser, Zoe Lo, Joseph Digirolamo, Michele St. Julien, and Marc Szczepaniak for their sup-
port during the pandemic, and to give a special thanks to Professors H. Timothy Lovelace and
Kimberly J. Robinson.
1 Diane Bernard, How a Failed Assassination Attempt Pushed George Wallace to Reconsider
His Segregationist Views, SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE (May 12, 2022), https://www.smithsoni
anmag.com/history/how-a-failed-assassination-attempt-pushed-george-wallace-to-reconsider-
his-segregationist-views-180980063/ [https://perma.cc/JNF3-C3UD].
21Transcript of Oral Argument at 67, Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, 579 U.S.
365 (2016) (No. 14-981).](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/harlpolrv17&div=7&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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The Limits of Equality: A People's History of Affirmative Action
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